Wednesday, 31 August 2011

Rosario and Sano

Any Twins fan that follows their minor league teams would surely recognise the names of Eddie Rosario and Miguel Sano. This season I was lucky enough to be on the same team as these two and witness the unbelievable talent that both of them possess. Miguel signed out of the Dominican Republic for $3.15million and Eddie signed in last years draft in the 4th round out of Puerto Rico. Obviously the Twins invested a lot of money in these two and in their short careers they are producing the goods.

Over the last 10 games we were in a tight playoff race with the Kingsport Mets, and in the last 10 games, Rosario and Sano have flipped the switch and unleashed on the pitchers in the Appalachian League. In those 10 games they have hit a combined .428 average (36 hits in 84 at bats), hit 10 home runs, scored 30 runs and have 33 runs batted in. This kind of production is almost unheard of from a pair of teenagers playing only their 2nd year of professional baseball but they put their team on their back and lead the way for us before the playoffs. To go along with the last 10 games, they have also had very productive seasons, which lead to them being named in the 2011 Appalachian League All-Star Team with Eddie being named the league MVP and Miguel making the team as the utility infielder. They weren't the only Elizabethton Twins to be named as Tim Shibuya was named Pitcher of the Year and Madison Boer named the Reliever of the Year.

I'm not the only one on this team that thinks the way Sano and Rosario have been playing is out of this world, one of our catchers Matt Parker posted this on his Twitter yesterday "I have never witnessed anything like the current offensive production of Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario, absolutely impressive". The things these two guys can do with the bat is amazing, Rosario has some of the fastest hands I've ever seen, and Sano is built like brick wall, and has so much raw power. They do strike out a fair bit, but they also take their fare share of walks, as they get older and begin to recognise pitches earlier, I'm sure their strikeout numbers will drop. All I know is I hope I get to play on the same team as these guys next year, cause I'm sure it will only get better.